This Date Is Saints History – July 10

Well, to be honest, nothing really; at least in terms of anything that took place on the field.

Obviously, with it being July, there are no games, the draft has traditionally been held in April, free agency is done, and training camps are still a couple of weeks away.

So, when touching upon something significant that happened to the Saints on July 10 we have to look for a player, or former player, celebrating a birthday, and I found one of the more underrated ones in franchise history.

A deeper look shows that something significant did happen for the Saints on this date, even though nobody knew it at the time.

On this date back in 1962, Joel Hilgenberg, a fixture on the New Orleans offensive front in the late 80's-early 90's was born.

A guard/center Hilgenberg played for the Saints for 10 years, from 1984-1993.

After playing his college football at Iowa, Hilgenberg was drafted by the Saints in the fourth round of the 1984 NFL Draft.

A native of Iowa City, Iowa, Hilgenberg was a backup center in his first three years with the Saints, before taking over as the starting center prior to the 1987 season.

With the exception of the 1988 season, when he started at right guard, Hilgenberg remained the starting center for the Saints through the 1993 season, after which he retired.

In ten years with the Saints, including the 1992 season, when he was named to the Pro Bowl, the 6-foot-3, 250-pound Hilgenberg played in 142 games for the Saints, 97 as a starter.

Joel's brother, Jay, who played 13 years in the NFL, participating in seven Pro Bowls, finished his career with the Saints in 1993, playing alongside Joel.

Joel, who was an offensive line coach for the Green bay Packers from 2012-2013, was enshrined into the New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame in 2006.